SpikeWorks

Card draw simulator
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Xyptero 130

Why would you play normal Netrunner like a normal person, when you could instead leave three points sitting face-up on the table, burn them to score a different three points, then flatline the runner and waltz out of the room like you didn't just build your entire deck around some weird combo kill?

Step 1: convince the runner that they don't like points after all

Throw down City Works Project with two advancements, protected by Angelique Garza Correa, an unrezzed Anemone, or some ice they don't yet have breakers for. A surprise Formicary is particularly good at this.

Slash and Burn Agriculture will give you a third counter on City Works, all but guaranteeing the runner will leave it alone. This does leave two points face-up in archives, but Spin Doctor can fix that, along with any spare agendas you want to discard. It's usually fine to let the runner have those two points anyway, as long as they haven't stolen another agenda already. Two free points is a pretty good incentive for the runner to leave the three extremely painful points alone.

Step 2: convince yourself that you also don't like points

Advance City Works Project to 5, but DO NOT SCORE IT YET. Just let it sit there being unstealable until you obtain one of your kill combos.

Step 3: convince anyone watching that this deck is fundamentally antithetical to the basic principles of the game

Plan A: score City Works, then Neurospike-Neurospike for 3+3 damage

Plan B: score City Works, score another 5/3 via Oberth, then Neurospike for 6 damage

Oberth Protocol is the key here: once you've installed the second 5/3, its rez cost allows you to forfeit the City Works you've just scored for 3 advancement counters via Jemison Astronautics. Advance once (gaining your 5th advancement counter from Oberth Protocol's actual ability) to score the second 5/3, bringing the agenda points scored this turn (and thus the damage from Neurospike) to 6.

Plan C: the runner steals City Works, then you flatline them with Punitive

If the runner does steal City Works (and survives), a 3-damage Punitive Counterstrike should kill them. If the runner started their turn with 5 in hand and doesn't have a more efficient way to draw cards than 1/, a 6-damage steal (City Works, 2 advancements, and either Angelique or Anemone's on-rez damage) ensures the runner is in range for a Punitive kill. If they're likely to have better card-draw available, protect City Works with additional damage or hold onto City Works until they have 4 or fewer cards in hand.

 

Tutors and redundancies:

  • Watchtower can pull whatever you need. Don't expect this to fire more than once, but once is (usually) plenty. In addition to combo pieces and protective cards, don't underestimate the value of fetching Too Big to Fail.

  • DRM tutors City Works, or Slash and Burn if you already have City Works in hand. Note that if you can't find either City Works or DRM, you can still pull off both Plan A and Plan B with SDS, you'll just need to pick your window and do a better job of protecting it with a proper glacier.

  • Pivot tutors Neurospike or Punitive Counterstrike. Note that while the Threat 3 condition is automatically satisfied, it still takes an extra compared to playing the target card from hand.

  • Malapert Data Vault tutors Neurospike.

 

Additional Notes

  • Go hard, and go fast. Time is not on your side.

  • This deck benefits greatly from being off-meta. It's only truly revealed that you're doing something weird and suspicious when you leave City Works unscored, and by that point it's unstealable.

  • The ice package in this deck is somewhat flexible. Swapping in Valentão or similar can better protect centrals and make Border Control much more effective, but at the risk of a more awkward turn 1-2 and more clicks spent on econ rather than your win condition. Salt and pepper to taste.

5 comments
29 Sep 2023 bluestar

I love it. The addition of neurospike solves the issue I've always had with punitive decks on being reliant on one card and the correct timing. Definitely gonna give this a spin when I get the chance.

29 Sep 2023 Davidmc7

Disgusting. I love it.

29 Sep 2023 Diogene

Amazing deck! Win by firing you ID ONCE! Superb!

Have tried the following ideas with the deck:

  1. Go to 45 cards to get your winning combo faster (take out Punitive Counterstrike and all the Angelique Garza Correa)?
  2. How do you deal with Steelskin Scarring?
  3. Would ZATO City Gridbe good here?

Cheers!

30 Sep 2023 Xyptero

@Diogene great questions

  1. I've considered it. I wouldn't lose Angelique, as I find her damage too important on the defence, also because when the runner knows Angelique is in play, any facedown card in a server root could be two damage. Damage from Angelique can often give you a window as well, before the runner has drawn back to a full grip. Punitive in one sense is surprisingly easy to lose, as the threat of Punitive is more frequently useful than the card itself. The deck's main vulnerability, however, is City Works being stolen, and a single Punitive (usually tutored by Pivot) is usually game-winning in that scenario, so IMO losing Punitive puts the deck at a serious disadvantage. To trim the deck to 45, I would actually lose all 3 copies of Spin Doctor, add a third Neurospike, then lose one Formicary and one Too Big To Fail. This focuses the deck a little more heavily on Plan A (double-spike). Losing Spin Doctor largely eliminates the benefit of fewer cards, however, so I suppose my answer is that I don't consider the minor improvements in consistency to be worth sacrificing your tertiary win-condition, or perhaps more importantly the threat of it.

  2. Steelskin Scarring is a big part of what makes Anarch the hardest match-up for this deck, but it's not as strong a counter as it may appear. First, Steelskin is completely useless against Plan B, which kills the runner before Steelskin's effect can resolve. Against Plan A, there's a 40% chance the first Neurospike will miss Steelskin in a full hand, in which case again the second Neurospike kills before the effect can resolve. The other 60% of the time though you're screwed, so avoid Plan A against Anarch. The main strength of Steelskin however is that it makes it much easier for the runner to steal City Works while remaining safely out of Punitive range. For this reason, against Anarchs I'd either push lightning fast to get City Works down before they're likely to have Steelskin, or hold out until you have a bit more protection or damage in the remote. If you're able to use Slash & Burn, hold your Spin Doctoring and leave it in archives as bait: if the runner steals both, nothing will save them from Punitive, and they may take the two free points and leave the three spiky ones alone. Anarch is also the faction most likely to trash their own cards and take core damage, which can create opportunities Steelskin might otherwise have robbed you of.

  3. ZATO City Grid could work, but it requires a bit more setup than I'm comfortable with. I think Border Control works fine in the rare circumstance that it's necessary, and the rest of the time I'm happy to just protect City Works with enough damage that I can flatline the runner with Punitive. It would make the Anarch matchup a bit easier in some circumstances, however!

1 Oct 2023 Erikk78

So. Cool. Well done. Pulling of any of these combos is such a 'Drop the mic' moment. How consistent is it? How did testing go? Any match up info?